PRACTICALLY SPEAKING

Westerners who travel to the former Soviet Union usually come prepared for just about everything, except their health.  That is a mistake that can prove extremely costly and, on occasion, fatal.  If one breaks a bone, contracts pneumonia, or develops a raging fever in Moscow or Magadan, what is the wisest course of action?  One can turn to local hospitals and the services of national physicians.  Just keep in mind that 75 percent of all Soviet-Jewish doctors who have immigrated to Israel have failed that country's medical boards (in Russian), according to Murray Feshbach of Georgetown University, one of the West's leading Russian specialists.

For Westerners with access to hard currency, an alternative is the American Medical Center, 3 Shmitovskiy proyezd, on the west side of central Moscow.  (Tel:  (7095) 256-8212, 256-8378, 259-7181; fax:  973-2142.)  Located close to the Sovincenter, it is a leading Western health-care provider in Moscow.  American and Canadian staff doctors are assisted by North American and West European nurses.  The AMC uses U.S. medical equipment and sells prescription and over-the-counter U.S. drugs.

The center is open six days a week and has on-call service 24 hours a day for members only.  Someone covered by the AMC plan involved in a serious car accident in Vladivostok can expect an AMC physician to be on the next flight out of Moscow to Vladivostok to care for the injured party.

AMC has corporate, family, individual, and student membership rates.  Western travelers in Soviet successor republics pay $1 per day.  North American health insurers accept AMC medical forms for patient reimbursements.

Westerners continue to opt for medical evacuation when the injury is very serious.  An international flight by stretcher can cost $10,000 to $15,000, which explains why medical evacuation insurance is a priority.  The best-known service is SOS Worldwide.  Its U.S. headquarters is:  P.O. Box 11568, Philadelphia, PA 19116 (Tel:  1-800-523-8930).  The European office is:  11 Ruesautter, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland (Tel:  41 22 47 6161).  An SOS Worldwide jet evacuated a World Vision staff person to Geneva from Yerevan, Armenia--not the most accessible of locations--in less than 24 hours after the illness was verified as life-threatening.  Another provider is Moscow's Euromedical Emergency Service (432-1616).

Serge Duss lives with his family in Moscow and is program manager for World Vision. 

A Quality, Democratic Alternative

 The Adventist Health Centre
 Dr. David Bowers, Director
 Prospekt 60-Letiya Oktyabrya 21a
 Tel:  126-3391; 126-7906

Sources for clinics - and much additional practical information:

Michael R. Dohan, ed., The Traveller's Yellow Pages and Handbook for Saint Petersburg, Fall 1992-Spring 1993.  Info Services International, 1 Saint Marks Place, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724; tel:  516-549-0064; fax:  516-549-2032; and Telinfo, 64 Moika Embankment, 190000 Saint Petersburg, Russia; tel:  812-315-64-12; fax:  812-312-73-41.  $7.95 plus $2.55 domestic and $4.55 international airmail, payable in U.S. dollars on a U.S. bank.  Mastercard, Visa, and American Express accepted by signed fax or mail order.

Where in Moscow, 2nd ed. (1992), and Where in St. Petersburg (1992).  $13.50 plus $3 shipping/handling each from Russian Information Services, 89 Main St., #2, Montpelier, VT 05602; tel:  802-223-4955; fax:  802-223-6105; or Bolshoy Kondratyevskiy per. 4, korpus 2, kv. 168, Moscow 123056 Russia; tel/fax:  095-254-9275.  Mastercard, Visa, and American Express accepted.

Christian literature: Who has published what, where, and in which languages?
by Wil Triggs and Mark Elliott

In 1992 David C. Cook Foundation published Books Translated from English to Eastern European and CIS Languages, a 105-page bibliography listing titles and publishers of Christian books that have been translated from English into 25 languages of East Central Europe and the former Soviet Union.  Entries include English title, author, translated title, publisher, and where known, the U.S. copyright holder.  A 24-page publishers' appendix gives contact person, address, phone, and fax.  The cost of the publication is $25 for contributing publishers and $50 for others.  The foundation invites national Christian groups to contact it directly for information on literature published in a specific language.

Vienna-based Literature Information Service, under the auspices of Mission Forum, offers a newsletter with periodic updates of newly translated titles and catalogs of Christian titles in all the major languages of East Central Europe and the former Soviet Union. Annual LIS newletter subscriptons are 250 Austrian Schillings (ATS), catalogs in groups of three languages for 500 ATS, or individual language catalogs for 200 ATS each. For payments in currency other than Austria Schillings, or by check other than Euro Cheque, add 100 ATS.

In addition, Peter Deyneka Russian Ministries (Dukhovnoye Vozrozhdeniye) is coordinating a Christian bibliography project which will compliment David C. Cook and LIS research. This project is under the direction of Nikolai Kornilov in Moscow.

It is important to understand that a completed translation does not mean that copies are available.  In fact, in probably a majority of cases, stock for titles already translated is low or nonexistent.  The great value of the Cook, LIS, and Russian Ministries efforts at "bibliographical control," to use library science terminology, is 1) to prevent redundant translations; and 2) to provide a starting point for reprints.  Hopefully, David C. Cook Foundation, LIS, and Peter Deyneka Russian Ministries will be able to coordinate their efforts sufficiently so that ministries in the near future can consult a single source to determine what Christian literature has been translated into various languages of East Central Europe and the former Soviet Union.

One pending grant proposal, if funded, would permit the production of a reference work providing brief evaluations of content and translation quality.  In addition, the formation of an advisory committee is envisioned which would recommend particular Christian texts as priorities for translation.  Ultimately, of course, Western Christians should encourage the peoples of East Central Europe and the former Soviet Union to write and publish more of their own understanding of Christian faith in their own historical and cultural context.  As important and critical as Western assistance in translation and reprinting projects is at present, it still should be recognized as stopgap help in the strengthening and extension of Christ's church in the old East Bloc.

Wil Triggs and Mark Elliott serve as editors for the East-West Church & Ministry Report.

A first-year intensive Russian course for mission candidates is tentatively scheduled for 28 June-20 August 1993.  Costs for tuition, room, and board for this missions-oriented program will be approximately $1,850.  Tentative plans are to offer college credit through Columbia Bible College and Seminary, Columbia, SC, the site for the program.  Contact:  Dr. David S. Gotaas, South-East Center for World Missions, 1711 Pendleton St., Columbia, SC 29201; tel/fax:  (803) 252-6200.

Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus all have placed at least temporary moratoria on international adoptions.  The Russian Parliament resolution to this effect passed on 18 December 1992 without debate:  152 in favor, 1 against, with 4 abstentions.  Holt International Children's Services, which has placed eight children from the former Soviet Union in the U.S. since 1991, now has 140 orphan assignments in questionable status pending new, more restrictive adoption legislation.  For further information, write the U.S. Department of State, 2201 C St.  NW, Washington, DC 20520, for a copy of a recent 10-page document, "Status of Foreign Adoptions in Russia."

Written permission is required for reprinting or electronic distribution of any portion of the East-West Church & Ministry Report.

© 1993 East-West Church and Ministry Report
ISSN 1069-5664